[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3990-3991]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONS

  Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I rise today, along with my friend and 
colleague, Senator Lieberman, to offer a Senate resolution commending 
the Connecticut women's basketball team. We have had a phenomenal 
season from start to finish, with the crowning victory at the Alamodome 
in Texas, defeating the University of Oklahoma just a few weeks ago. 
Their 82-to-70 victory in the national championship game on March 31 
capped one of the most dominant seasons enjoyed by any sports team in 
recent memory.
  The Huskie Women's Basketball Team finished the season undefeated, 39 
and 0, becoming only the fourth women's NCAA basketball team in history 
to do so and one of a few teams that have had multiple national 
championships. There are only a handful that have had undefeated 
seasons and national championships.
  The margin of victory of the UConn team over the season was 
astounding. A historical 35 points was the average margin of victory in 
the 39 victories they had during the regular season. In all my years--I 
know the Presiding Officer is a fan as well of sports and basketball--I 
never have seen anything quite like this. Each game was not a question 
of whether or not they would win but by how much. A phenomenal group of 
young women, a phenomenal coaching staff, they just did a terrific job 
during the entire season.
  The accomplishments of this team go far beyond their dominance on the 
hard court. The Huskies have helped contribute to the greater cause of 
increasing the visibility of women athletes. Nearly 3.5 million people 
watched the final game on ESPN, which represented the largest audience 
for a college basketball game, men's or women's, in network history. 
Imagine, a few years ago, you would have been lucky to have a handful 
of people that might show up for a women's basketball game.
  Not only did they have 3.5 million people watching on television, 
30,000 people were packed into the Alamodome to watch the final game. 
Many people would have predicted that could never have happened only a 
few years ago. Why shouldn't it be so? Anyone who watched this 
remarkable team from Connecticut as well as the other top teams across 
the Nation--Tennessee, Duke, Oklahoma; there are a lot of great women's 
teams, the number growing each and every year--would certainly be 
impressed with the quality of the play they have brought to the game.
  Theirs is a wonderful, pure style of basketball combining accurate 
shooting and flashy passing, as we have all seen, and sound all-around 
play. For the women's team, one of the strengths was the senior 
leadership. NCAA Player of the Year Sue Bird, along with her senior 
teammates Asjha Jones, Tamika Williams, and Swin Cash, have played 
together for 4 years--four remarkable women.
  This last victory caps an incredible collegiate career for these four 
women, including an unbelievable 136-and-9 record and two national 
championships--rather phenomenal. Throughout the season, their 
familiarity with each other made it seem as though they could read each 
other's minds as they played on the court.
  All of us in Connecticut are deeply proud. Last Saturday, there was a 
parade in Hartford, CT. Literally thousands of people on a bitterly 
cold day showed up to express their admiration and pride in these 
wonderful players and their coaches.
  Coach Geno Auriemma is truly a special individual and deserves some 
very special recognition. He has led this team to victory after victory 
and does so with a great deal of style, emotion, and feeling for these 
young women. He arrived on the Storrs campus in 1985, at which time the 
Huskie team had experienced only one winning season. He quickly turned 
the program into one of the leading powerhouses in the Nation, and the 
pride of the people of Connecticut has been swelling ever since.
  Coach Auriemma has compiled over 400 career wins at UConn including 
an unbelievable 272-and-17 record over the last 8 seasons. This 
represents a run of dominance possibly unmatched in the history of team 
sports competition. Under Coach Auriemma's leadership, the Huskies have 
won 3 national titles, 12 Big East regular season titles, and 11 Big 
East tournament titles. This year, Coach Auriemma was named National 
Coach of the Year for the fourth time in his career and the Big East 
Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career.
  Perhaps the most important example of Coach Auriemma's philosophy is 
the way he has led these women to be winners on the court and off as 
well. I know the Presiding Officer will be impressed by this statistic. 
Coach Auriemma has overseen a program that boasts a 100-percent 
graduation rate for the young women of his team. That is something to 
be emulated across the

[[Page 3991]]

country. The entire sports world could learn a great deal from Coach 
Auriemma and his staff and the generation of UConn women's players who 
have played for him. Athletes do not need to sacrifice an education or 
other valuable things in life for the sake of winning. If you set your 
sights on excellence, there is no telling how much you can achieve in 
life and where excellence will come in every endeavor in which you 
engage.
  Although some Huskies have gone on to excel in the WNBA, many others 
have gone on to careers as physicians, lawyers, and educators. I know 
Coach Auriemma is extremely proud of the alumni association that has 
come from the teams he has coached over the years.
  Let me also congratulate everyone involved in this incredible season. 
I mentioned the four seniors on the team: Sue Bird; Swin Cash; Diana 
Taurasi, a young woman, not a senior. She was the most junior in age of 
the starting five. I mentioned Asjha Jones and Tamika Williams. The 
starting five is the only team in NCAA history where all five starting 
players are All-Americans. Sue Bird was on the first team, two were on 
the second team, one on the third team, and one honorable mention. That 
has never been done before by a starting five on a basketball team. And 
the other players on the team could easily have been a starting team 
almost anywhere else, and they contributed successfully to the success 
and overall efforts. They include: Jessica Moore, Ashley Battle, Maria 
Conlon, Morgan Valley, Ashley Valley, and Stacey Marron. Thanks go to 
Geno Auriemma and his associate head coach, Chris Dailey, and Tonya 
Cardoza and Jamelle Elliott.
  Senator Lieberman and I are very proud of this wonderful group of 
people, these young players. They receive a lot of support around 
Connecticut. We have always had to export our sports allegiance, on a 
professional level, and in Connecticut you are either a Boston Red Sox 
fan or a Yankee fan. Some are now Mets fans. In football, you either 
support the Giants or the Patriots. In hockey, it is Boston, New York, 
or New Jersey. At the collegiate level, the UConn men's team, under Jim 
Calhoun, had a wonderful season, getting to the final eight, losing to 
Maryland, and the UConn women's team going on to the third national 
title in the last few years.
  While we don't have a professional sports team in our State, we have 
wonderful college athletics, and you can understand the great sense of 
pride we all feel over this unique and special accomplishment achieved 
by the UConn women's basketball team. I know my colleague is here being 
supportive.

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